It doesn’t seem like a lot has changed in a year, as Trump and his minions continue to dismantle the EPA from within, destroy laws that protect us against pollution, push fossil fuels over sustainable clean energy, and double down on their climate change denial even as our polar ice caps melt and our weather becomes more extreme and dangerous.

I’m reblogging the post I wrote last year when I attended the March for Science in my city.

In these days of dangerous lies called alternative facts and facts touted by our leaders as fake news, the celebration of Earth Day has never seemed more important. All over the nation today, people in cities big and small gathered to defend science and scientific research. Scientific knowledge and education is important to keep our water and air clean, our food healthy and safe, and keep our young people educated instead of indoctrinated in ignorance.

The organizations that sponsored our event.

In one important sense, the Trump presidency is the best thing that could happen to our country, because it’s forcing people to wake up and finally take a stand for the things that really matter. I doubt there would be this level of activity had Hillary won the election. People would remain stuck in their apathy and cynicism.

In these days of dangerous lies called alternative facts and facts touted by our leaders as fake news, the celebration of Earth Day has never seemed more important. All over the nation today, people in cities big and small gathered to defend science and scientific research. Scientific knowledge and education is important to keep our water and air clean, our food healthy and safe, and keep our young people educated instead of indoctrinated in ignorance.

The organizations that sponsored our event.

In one important sense, the Trump presidency is the best thing that could happen to our country, because it’s forcing people to wake up and finally take a stand for the things that really matter. I doubt there would be this level of activity had Hillary won the election. People would remain stuck in their apathy and cynicism.

It’s encouraging that so many cities had such a big turnout for these Marches for Science, including my own. I live in a small city (a blue city in a red state), but it seemed like there were thousands of people attending (though some were probably just there to watch the goings-on).

Our March for Science started at one end of town (where I picked up my tee shirt I’d ordered ahead of time) and wound up on the other, in a park in the center of the city, where we’d be seen and heard. I enjoyed watching people’s reactions, most who seemed friendly to the cause. Many people carried signs, though I didn’t — but as you can see, I enjoyed taking pictures of the signs, most which were pretty creative. We chanted and someone banged a drum while we marched to the park.

When we arrived at the park, loudspeakers were playing three rock songs related to science: Major Tom by David Bowie, Rocket Man by Elton John, and She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby. Some of the attendees were dancing to the music. After about 20 minutes of listening to music, the organizer of the event — a 17 year old high school boy named Luke Shealy — gave a short but inspiring speech and introduced some other speakers. They were all good, but one — a Latino man who is also an astrophysicist — was so passionate he moved many people to tears.

Young Luke Shealy, the organizer of our March. The tee shirt I purchased is exactly like his.

After the speeches, some local musicians played for awhile, and I went to the various tables and picked up literature and a couple of bumper stickers. Next Saturday I’ll be attending another rally I just found out about today addressing climate change. I might make a sign this time!

Me trying on one of my son’s fursuit heads during my August 2016 trip.

I completely forgot to mention this in my posts about my Florida trip. I met a few of my son’s friends in the Tampa area furry community, and they are all awesome people — very chill, extremely friendly, and best of all, very supportive of each other.

I actually attended a furry party my son threw at his apartment. I was an honorary furry for that night! No, I did not wear a costume. In fact, no one did. It was just good clean fun, nothing questionable or too weird going on. We watched a furry dance competition on livestream on my son’s Mac, played Cards Against Humanity (it’s a hilarious game), and watched a couple of bad (non-furry) films. (One of my son’s hobbies is throwing “bad movie” get-togethers for his friends — they watch these movies ironically and laugh at them — if you remember Mystery Science Theatre 3000, that’s the general idea here). After all the silliness, we all headed down to the apartment complex’s pool and hot tub for an evening swim and relaxation.

Two views of the bumper of the car that belongs to one of my son’s friends who was at the party. She can’t get enough of ferrets and owns four of them. It’s hard to see it here, but her car is a lovely frosted pink and is awesome.

Speaking of science, tomorrow is Earth Day, and I will be attending my second protest — a March for Science taking place here in my city. I haven’t made a sign yet (and am not sure I’ll have the time), but I’ll be picking up a tee-shirt I paid for in advance (proceeds go to help the cause). I’ll be wearing this tee-shirt along with the buttons I purchased at the last protest I attended about the ACA and healthcare.

I’ll definitely post about my experience at the march tomorrow and will take pictures, as I did the last time.

The rest of the weekend I’ll probably be engaged in the tedious task of pulling posts from this blog I may want to use in my book. That’s my intention anyway; I can’t say I’ll actually commit to doing it. Actual writing is so much more fun.